Embodiments of the inventive concept relate to a method of controlling a memory and a memory system employing the same, and more particularly, to methods of controlling a memory to reduce a latency caused by erase operations of a non-volatile memory, and a memory system employing the same.
Among non-volatile memories, a NAND-type flash memory is mainly used as mass storage. To write data into memory cells of a flash memory, an erase operation is performed such that the memory cells have a predetermined negative threshold voltage. The erase operation is performed in units of memory blocks. Thereafter, a program (or write) operation is performed on a selected page connected to a selected memory cell, and a read operation is performed on the selected page. As compared with the write operation and the read operation, the erase operation takes a considerably longer time. A host may perform other commands after the flash memory finishes the erase operation. Accordingly, since the host cannot perform other operations due to latency caused by the erase operation of the flash memory, performance is degraded.